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RFH Class of ’78 alumni Nancy Whelchel was the first girl to play on the boys’ baseball team.Photo/George Day

In light of baseball season and honoring high school firsts in the breaking down of gender barriers, this Retro Pic of the Day, originally published in 2015, is being recirculated …

Yes, it’s all about baseball right now.

And the idea of RFH girls breaking into sports that were traditionally boys’ is something to think about.

So, who was on first, or, rather who was first to be somewhere on the field with the guys in the 1970s? It was RFH Class of ’78 alumni Nancy Whelchel.

Yes, Nancy got onto the baseball field with the boys at RFH a year or two after Chris Bowden scored a goal for girls in soccer.

It all happened back in the day when girls had just made strides to change the dress code and wear pants to school. That was a mass effort. There were a lot of girls walking around wearing skirts or dresses with pants underneath. But that’s another girls’ liberation story for another day.

It’s about those singular sensation girls who defied a status quo form of sexism when literally playing the fields.

So, the Retro Pic of the (George) Day honors one of those girls — Nancy Whelchel. It’s a snapshot of Nancy on the field with Ward Tietz.

We’re not sure if this is an actual team practice shot or just one in which she was just tossing the ball around for fun with a couple of the guys from her class.

Still, there she is playing ball. She had the guts and the sports acumen to break the good ol’ — or young — boys’ sports network.

Home run.

I somehow don’t recall any sort of rebellion from the boys. She was good. That was all that mattered.

Any firsts for girls on the football field? Anyone? What was Nancy Whelchel’s specialty on the baseball field?

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Longtime Fair Havenite Larry Curchin’s loved ones summed up the sentiment of his passing on April 10 by ending his obituary with a thought to remember him by: “When you see a motorcycle go by one day, with the rider loving every minute of it, you will still know that Larry’s wonderful, passionate spirit lives on.”

Police and personnel from the Monmouth County Fire Marshal’s Office are investigating the cause of a fire that engulfed two homes in Middletown early Sunday morning, Monmouth County Prosecutor Christopher J. Gramiccioni said on Monday.

George Giffin dancing at the 1963 promPhoto/courtesy of Debra Giffin Schluter

This is a classic that’s been seen before, but warrants another look, considering the timing …

The RFH junior prom was on Friday night. And the prom is all about dressing up, coupling up and dancing. Well, that’s most of what it’s all about, anyway. No teacher in RFH history loved to dance more than RFH science teacher of days gone by, George Giffin. He taught ballroom dance, he danced all over the place and he was even known to show up at many a student’s wedding and several reunions to make sure everyone remembered how it’s done on the dance floor.

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An 86-year-old Monmouth County man died as a result of a motor vehicle accident that occurred on Thursday afternoon in Neptune Township, Monmouth County Prosecutor Christopher J. Gramiccioni announced on Monday.

The Fair Haven Knollwood School grads have always been a styling, close-knit crew — a crew of cohorts that’s always shared many Kodak moments, in pairs, trios, cliques and all together.

Just as photography has evolved from Brownie camera to Instamatic to Polaroid, to phone camera, to full-on professional photo shoots, graduation photo ops have devolved back to single inspired family front lawn shots. That’s where the photo blitz usually began. Now it’s where it ends, too. So, some things never really change — much.

It’s an unprecedented graduation time in Rumson and Fair Haven this year. These pandemic days, in Fair Haven, eighth grade students are being met with a diploma, Superintendent Sean McNeil, Knollwood School Principal Amy Romano and a mini front-yard graduation snapshot in time and ceremony. It started this week.

While eighth grade graduations have taken place in various venues over the years, from what was Willow Street School (now Viola L. Sickles School) to Knollwood and then to Rumson-Fair Haven Regional High School, there’s never yet been a front lawn march to Pomp and Circumstance. Yet, this year’s comes close.

So, in honor of the eighth grade students graduating Knollwood School’s Class of 2020, we take a look back in a reprise of an eighth grade graduation post from June 18, 2018, featuring the Class of 1946.